Missouri no longer will block efforts by Kansas City lesbian Lisa Johnston — or other gays — to become licensed as foster parents, state officials said Tuesday. However, the Missouri Department of Social Services cautioned that just because gays may get licensed doesn’t automatically mean they will become foster parents. "We’re considering the biological parents’ preferences, and we’re also considering the abuse and neglect that occurred to the child and whether or not an alternative lifestyle environment would be confusing or add trauma to an already abused or neglected child,” said Deborah Scott, spokeswoman for the department.

The announcement came a month after state Attorney General Jay Nixon said he would not appeal a judge’s February decision allowing Johnston to be a foster parent. Nixon said he was dropping the appeal because Gov. Matt Blunt had just signed a law that repealed language outlawing homosexuality in Missouri.